


beau geste

by TheFreakWithTheWings



Series: Word a Day [10]
Category: Leverage
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-19
Updated: 2019-01-19
Packaged: 2019-10-12 23:56:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 529
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17477393
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheFreakWithTheWings/pseuds/TheFreakWithTheWings
Summary: beau geste: an ingratiating conciliatory gestureBefore Parker could ask, Sophie said "I once had an affair with someone like that. Some governor of some unimportant state - or maybe it was a city-state. I don't really remember all that well."





	beau geste

Confusion was sort of an ephemeral emotion for Parker - ephemeral, great word, have to tell Hardison - by which she meant that sometimes she felt it, but she usually ended up discarding it as useless if it didn’t pertain to her interests. Sometimes, though, she manages to hang onto it long enough to ask one of the others about whatever it was that was befuddling her at the moment.

"Hey Sophie," Parker greeted as she dropped down from the ceiling. "What does beau geste mean? The dictionary wasn't very helpful."

Sophie didn't even blink at Parker's unorthodox entrance, far too used to the thief's antics to even put on a pretense of surprise, as she set down the mystery book she was reading. "Maybe if you didn't write in your own definitions, then it would be of more use."

Parker huffed. "Maybe if they weren't so /wrong/ all the time, then I wouldn't have to fix them."

Sophie looked like she wanted to argue the point further, which meant that she wanted Parker to know that she felt that the point wasn't actually worth starting an argument over but still thought that Parker was wrong, and answered the original question. "It's a type of gesture that, while being beautiful, is also completely meaningless. Like, a man who has been discovered as a cheat might make a beau geste to his girlfriend by buying her some pretty trinket but continue to be unfaithful."

"Oh wow." Parker wrinkled her nose. "That sounds awful."

"Mmm," Sophie hummed. "Insincerity is such an unattractive quality."

They both sat in silence for a moment, Sophie likely thinking deep and convoluted thoughts about insincere men while Parker stared at the book Sophie had been reading. There was something familiar about the cover art, but she couldn't quite place it.

"Why did you want to know?" Sophie finally asked.

Parker laughed. "I overheard Nate on the phone with Maggie."

"Ah."

Silence descended once more, like a particularly hungry spider upon its prey. Maybe that what the artwork reminded her of, one of the spiders from one of Hardison's games. Did the mystery have something to do with spiders.

Before Parker could ask, Sophie said "I once had an affair with someone like that. Some governor of some unimportant state - or maybe it was a city-state. I don't really remember all that well."

Parker could recognize one of Sophie's hooks when she heard one. Still, some of Sophie's stories from before they became a team were pretty interesting.

"What happened?"

"Oh, I ruined his career and conned him out of every cent he owned," Sophie said absently as she picked up her book and opened it to her bookmark. "Whisper campaigns can be a lot of fun if you do them right."

"Really? Like what?"

"Well..."

0o0o0

When Nate finished his conversation with Maggie and came back to the apartment to tell the team that he'd found a new job, he saw Sophie and Parker engaged in a spirited discussion on whisper campaigns and the value of a good rumor and smiled. It was always good to see that the younger members of the team were learning new things.


End file.
